


too much lost

by Daten_Shi



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Qrow is Ruby's father, Qrow is Ruby's father theory, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 08:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daten_Shi/pseuds/Daten_Shi
Summary: Her uncle looked more pale than he did before. She could only just make out his chest rising and falling with each breath, and Ruby knew. Qrow didn’t have much time left; he wouldn’t make it to Mistral in time.With all the energy he could muster, Qrow spoke. “Ruby, I need you t-to do me a favor, and listen to this old man’s story. Don-don’t ask questions… and don’t interrupt. Clear?”





	too much lost

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was talking to some friends of mine, and I requested they give me angst prompts. They gave me quite a few which I said I'd write. This is the first of them. I'll give the prompt at the end.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Thank you to thuskindlyshescatters on tumblr for giving me the prompt and for reading over it for me!

The Nuckelavee was dead. Gone. They had killed it, finally. With a start, Ruby remembered the reason they had decided to pass through the decimated village in the first place – Qrow. She scrambled off to where her uncle was, resting against a building out of the way.

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby screamed as she neared; it didn’t seem possible, but her uncle looked more pale than he did before. She could only just make out his chest rising and falling with each breath, and Ruby knew. Qrow didn’t have much time left; he wouldn’t make it to Mistral in time. Tears gathered in her eyes as the rest of the world faded away around her. None of it mattered anyway, she was losing her uncle, her confidant. She was closer to Qrow than she was to her own father, and he was dying because she decided to get involved in a fight he ordered her to stay out of!

Qrow’s eyes opened to slits, genuinely conscious for the first time since he collapsed. “Hey kiddo,” he rasped. “How’s our progress to M-Mistral goi-ng?” The coughing started back up on the last few words, weaker now since most of his energy was gone.

A sob caught in her throat as the tears ran down her cheeks, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer.

“Ah,” Qrow whispered, understanding her silence, “I see.” He leaned his head back against the building, closing his eyes and smiling as best he could.

He took as deep a breath as the pain would allow, lifting his head to meet Ruby’s stare. With all the energy he could muster, Qrow spoke. “Ruby, I need you t-to do me a favor, and listen to this old man’s story. Don-don’t ask questions… and don’t interrupt. Clear?”

At Ruby’s nod, he began. “Tai and I al-ways thought… I’d have more time to tell you this. Stupid, really, considering th-the kind of missions– I go on, but we were optimistic about it. Pipsqueak… you need to understand that the p-people that killed your mo-m are the people… that are after you now. Not  
nece-necessarily Tyrian, but S-Salem.” Fear churned in her stomach; she wasn’t half the huntress her mother was, not yet, and she didn’t know if she ever _could_ be. The same people were after her now, though, and how could she expect to make it out alive when her mother didn’t?

“You were already going to be in danger… f-for being Summer Rose’s daugh-ter, so if they had known that… that you were the daughter of t-two people they… feared, they would almost def-definitely go after you. The three of us agreed… Tai, Oz, and I. W-we were the only ones that kn-ew. We made the decision for T-Tai to raise you as h-his daughter… and when the time came, we’d tell you th-the truth.” Qrow’s eyes spoke of their own apology.

Ruby’s heart raced as realization hit her. If this conversation was going in the direction she thought it was, then…

“You have to under-understand, Ruby,” Qrow sighed, “Summer and Tai… they w-were like siblings to each other. Their love for each other… was only as brother a-and sister. Tai loved Raven with a-all his hear-t, and though he hides it… he still does. Summer… m-man, I’m only procrastinating this… aren’t I? I keep rambling on, but not a-actually… telling you wh-what I’m supposed to. Ruby, Summer and I… loved each other more than any-anything. When you were b-born… we were happier than ev-er. I’m your fath-father, kid…”

Ruby’s breath caught in her throat. As Qrow had continued, she suspected that was where it was headed, but to hear the words was a shock still. Years had been spent with the vague guilt in the back of her mind that she felt close to her uncle than her father, only now she was finding out that was never true. It hurt, knowing they had lied to her for almost her entire life, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be angry at them. Not here, not now. Not with her real father sitting in front of her as his life slipped away. She could be angry at Tai later, but even then, she _did_ understand. Losing her mom had hit Qrow hard, and he wanted to keep her as safe as possible. To him, that meant letting Tai raise her as his daughter.

He reached up to ruffle her hair feebly, before his hand dropped back to his side. “If there had been a w-way… to raise you as m-my daughter after y-your mom died, I would’ve t-taken it. T-Tai was… very much against it, but he agr-agreed to raise you. You would’ve been in t-too much… danger gr-growing up as my daughter, and I coul-dn’t put you… at risk. I couldn’t lose you… n-not after Summer. S-so, I stayed away… until you only knew me a-as ‘Uncle Q-Qrow’. You used to ca-call me ‘Papa’… and hearing you ca-ll me uncle stung like a b-bitch, but it h-had… to be d-done.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners with his smile. His speech was getting more slurred. “Your mom ’nd I used to call y-you our ‘Petal’… You don’t know how ma-ny times I’ve gone t’ ca-call you that since… only t’ have to s-say ‘Pip-Pipsqueak’. Do you think y-you can forgive us… Tai and I, f’r h-hidin’ the truth? Can you for-forgive y’r dad that raised you… ’nd th’ one you’re related t-to?”

The nickname sparked faint memories of her childhood. A soft voice and a deeper, rougher voice talking to her, calling her ‘Petal’. She didn’t remember her mother too well, but even without knowing Qrow was her father she could tell the other was his voice. It broke her heart how much happier he sounded in her memories.

“I can’t forgive my dads,” Ruby choked out, “but I can forgive my papa and my Uncle Tai.” She leaned forward, burying her face into Qrow’s shoulder to cry.

Qrow’s free arm wrapped around her back, holding his daughter close. “S’okay… Petal,” he breathed, his strength gone after saying what he needed to, “I get t’ see… your mom… a-gain. You’re n’t alone… you’ve got these three… ’nd ’m sure y’r sister’s gonna… be on her way b’ now. Y’ve g’t Tai, ’nd tha’ team… o’ y’rs… Saw you t’gether, know they’ll come… b’ck. S’okay, Petal. It’ll be… okay.”

“Papa, please,” whimpered Ruby, clutching at his shirt, “this isn’t fair! I’m sorry. I’m sorry, this is all my fault.” She knew the reassurances would come, he’d tell her that she wasn’t to blame, make her promise not to do that to herself, but–

The comforting words were never said. His hand slipped from her back, as the one pressed against the cut fell to his lap. His body slumped forward, limp as his last breath slipped past his lips. Ruby jerked back, shaking her head in denial because he _couldn’t_ be, not after everything! She couldn’t lose him now! He was just sleeping, he had just passed out drunk again–

The sad part was that she could almost believe it. Head hanging low and eyes closed, body limp and sprawled against a wall for support? She’d seen that exact image a lot in her childhood when he’d visit for a few days, especially in the first few years that she remembered, after her mother’s death. Now, it made more since; Qrow was always especially drunk in her early childhood because he had lost Summer, and in a way, he had lost his daughter. She didn’t believe he was only sleeping though, as much as Ruby wished she could. It had nothing to do with logic and knowing he was gone, and everything to do with two other recent deaths. She couldn’t believe it, not after Penny and not after Pyrrha.

Though a robot, Penny had been her friend, and she _was_ real, no matter what Penny herself had said. Ruby had seen the remains of Penny’s body after that fight, had seen her eyes, wide open and unseeing. Dead. On the other hand, Pyrrha had been gone in a flash, her body dissolving as best Ruby could tell. She could see the shock, the horror, the _pain_ on Pyrrha’s face before she had disappeared. Pyrrha had looked so alive one second and then she just wasn’t there the next, but the image was still burned into her mind. Penny’s blank eyes haunted Ruby, and there was no mistaking it for being anything other than the gaze of someone who’s life had left them. Now, her unc– her _father_ , body drooping so familiarly but unaccompanied by the rise and fall of his chest as he slept. Ruby knew this would invade her dreams, her nightmares, right alongside Pyrrha and Penny.

Within a year, she had lost three people important to her, Ruby realized suddenly, and it all came back to Salem and her crew. It was obvious when Mercury stopped her from interfering with Penny and Pyrrha’s fight that it was rigged so that the girl with polarity as a semblance would fight the girl made of metal. Penny’s death was on their heads. Pyrrha… she was doing what they all were, fighting the forces invading and destroying their school. She didn’t have the full story, Ruby understood, but nonetheless Pyrrha was in deep enough to feel responsible for stopping Cinder. Then, Cinder had killed her. Now, Tyrian. He had been sent after her under Salem’s orders. His tail, his poison had killed Qrow.

Ruby was pissed. She and the people she cared about had lost enough to Salem. If she hadn’t been determined before, Ruby was after that. No one would keep her from getting involved in that war. No one.

“Ruby?” Jaune ventured, seeing her tense as she stopped crying. “Besides the obvious, what’s wrong?”

She stood, keeping her back to them. Her hands were clenched in her skirt, restraining herself. “This is Salem’s fault,” she snarled. “We have lost too much to her, all in less than a year. Penny. Pyrrha. Yang’s arm. _My father_ , just as I found out. No more. If there was any question before, it’s gone. This is my fight too, now, and nobody is keeping me out of it. I’m done losing people. Whether any of you join me is your choice, but I’m getting involved and that’s final.”

“Ruby…” Nora whispered. She wasn’t going anywhere with it, Jaune and Ren understood. Before them was no longer an enthusiastic, happy girl two years younger than them. No, they saw a young woman who had held strong until the world dealt one too many blows, and then she held stronger.

“Let’s go,” Ruby suggested, grabbing her bag without turning to look at them. Silently, they gathered their stuff and waited for her to face them, all while mourning the loss of the Ruby they used to know. None of them were optimistic about her going back to how she was before.

Hadn’t they lost enough already?

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Write Qrow finally telling Ruby the truth as he dies in her arms.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!


End file.
